Maybe the name is not very original, but let me assure you that my opinions on the beer are. If you are not shy of trying new beer, I am quite sure that I will have something for you.

Sonntag, 8. Januar 2017

Winter Beer Festival - Namur Capitale de la Biere... d'Hivier

There
is nothing better to warm up the winter than a solid portion of good beer.

To
our surprise, winter have visited Belgium. We also have snow (not a lot, but
enough to make a snowman). This simply asks for a Winter Beer Festival.

Floreffe
- small, historic city close to Namur. Build around the original monastery
(grounded around the year 1100) is hosting the Winter Beer Festival organized by
Namur – The Capitol of Beer (whatever this is). I admit that the first look on
the monastery is very impressive. Especially in the night, with all the lights
it looks amazing. Enjoy the view before we continue with the festival part.

The
first impression of the interior is very nice.

Sadly,
the event itself is held in school gym. Very old one. On one hand, it is still nice,
because it’s a part of the monastery adopted to be a gym, but on the other the
best years of the gym are behind. If you combine it with the tables and chairs
that remember 1st World War and some ping pong tables standing around, you get
the feeling of a certain guerilla of the event. It is not bad, just very
specific.

Major
points of criticism – there were two spots that sell the beer, even if each of
them was served by up to 3 people it is clearly not enough. We have arrived
very early in the day therefore, the beginning was very smooth, but after 2
hours there I had to wait more than 15 minutes to get a beer. Much too long.

Another
small point is the presence of the food stand in one of the corners of the gym.
Yes, it is necessary, but plan for the working ventilation system. On Friday,
around 8 pm half of the room was already filled with smoke from the food stand.
I doubt that you can enjoy any beer aroma when everything smells like grilled
sausage. In fact, I had to leave the room with every single beer…

On
a good side the organizer have provided a very interesting collection of the
beers for the event. Getting Belgian, Italian, French, UK and Denmark beers under
one roof is worth noticing. Very well done guys. After a short moment of appreciation
I was getting the first beers and then I have spotted the two list the
organizers have provided.

The
first one on the small block of paper was perfect for making notes on what the
beer you had and contained just the name of the beer and the brewery. Very
useful thing.

The
other list that kept my interest for longer was containing the name of the beer,
the brewery, style of the beer and a short description.

Wait!
Rewind. Style of the beer? Why is Santa Gose called blonde? Call it gose, grodziskie
of lichtenheiner. But it is not blonde. And Looking on the list I didn’t know
whether to laugh or cry. I have marked some obvious mistakes on the list. Then
I have realized that the organizers know only three types of beers – blond,
amber and black. Congratulations guys. Very impressive knowledge for a people
calling themselves beer nation…

Two
possibilities have crossed my mind – either we encounter a typically Belgian
arrogance and inability to believe that there are other beer styles that the
ones brewed in Belgium; or the organizers wanted to make it easy for them and
have just used an appropriate color of the beer to make it easy for the people
to choose. Just to make it clear – the second one is no excuse - how can you
put a goose, an IPA and a saison together as blonde. People buying them will be
misinformed (yes, even if there is a description after). Either way. Shame.

To
finish the complaining – after a festival I still wonder, why would you serve
the beer almost frozen? Seriously. All bottled beers were served at 4 degree
Celcius (No I haven’t seen the number, but it is my best guess, it could have
been 5 or 6). Majority of winter beers I know are quite heavy aromatic things,
sometimes with a lot of spices. Serving temperature up to 12 degree if you want
to enjoy the complexity. Selling them almost frozen is a kind of crime. Major.

Now
enough complains, let’s go to the beer, because it was the strongest point of
the festival.

Snowball

To Øl (Denmark), saison

Nice hops, fruity flowery aroma. White color, unfiltered, medium body
smooth creamy, soft carbonation. I probably wouldn´t consider this as a winter beer,
but it gave me a nice summer feeling. Very pleasant in drinking. Will get some
bottles for stock. That was a great start of the fest.

Père Noël

De Ranke
(Belgium), Belgian
Ale/Ambree

Dark amber color, bit hazy beer. A
very typical example of what is “in” in Belgium. Smells mostly of yeasts. Some
orange in flavor. Maybe some honey aroma if you look carefully. Quite bitter at the end, what is worth
noticing. Overall rather muddy than refreshing. Decent but not particularly great.

Hoppy Christmas

Brewdog (UK), IPA

Yet another hoppy beer. And I love
it. IPA with medium body. Clear hoppy aromas of citrus and flowers. Surprisingly,
it was pretty pale. Decent bitterness and very aromatic in taste. Very decent
beer for a broader publicity. Wouldn’t win any competition, but is a secure
choice if you ever stumble upon it.

Diôle Bière
de Nöel (Diôle Brune)

Brasserie de Carrieres (Belgium), Belgian Ale/Brune

Fruity sour beer with a clear note of
black currant in aroma and taste. Some notes of mild spices. Very surprising,
but not bad after all. If you can go over the firs sip is certainly worth
continuing drinking. It a bit similar to goose, but only a bit. Positively
weird.

Jonna*

Birra Donjon (Italy), Ambree

Yeast and malt. Heavy yeasty. In fact, for me it
stinks, with some efforts there is a light peachy aroma. Heavy carbonation.
Overall very average beer. Very average.

*this beer was called Jonna Christmas on the official
beer list, but, according to a brewery they only have a beer called Jonna…

Nonfiltered, very smooth on the
tongue. I bet on banana aromas coming from yeast. Rather sweet. Very pleasant
in drinking. Quite interesting.

Dunham Saison
Rustique

Brasserie Dunham(Canada), Saison

Pale yellow with fine
white head. Light warm aroma of lemon and sauerkraut. Yes, sauerkraut; And a
bit salty like drinking sea water. No jokes, seriously. But taken together it is
not bad. Its great and refreshing. Unusual, but in a positive way.

Winter Mess

De
la Senne (Belgium), Winter Ale

Malty aroma with dried plums and
honey, brown bread, toffee, and a light spiciness. As the beer warms up there
is some additional light fruity yeastiness as well as hints of warming alcohol.
followed again by dried fruits, refreshing bitterness, and slight warming
alcohol. Heavy spicy, great winter beer. Best winter beer here.

Santa Gose
F&#%-It All

To Øl
(Denmark), Grodziskie/Gose/Lichtenhainer

Unusual interpretation of the gose
style. Smells and tastes more like diluted lemon juice than a a gose. Body is light with tingly carbonation
dispersible vitamin C tablet. I liked it to start but got quickly tired with
the one-sided taste.